Despite the hope underlying in an array of 1960sChryslerconcept cars , the DeSoto brand died quiet on November 18 , 1960 , after 32 mostly successful years . The reasons ? Continuing Chrysler Corporation losses and high development costs for the new Valiant compact .
The last DeSotos – a token brace of tacky 1961 hardtops – were little more than thinly disguised 1961 Chrysler Windsor and numbered a paltry 3,034 – this from a make that had topped 125,000 social unit as recently as 1957 .
But tucked forth in the Highland Park styling studio was a concept car for a brand - raw 1962 DeSoto embodying a radical new pattern ism .
Actually , all of Chrysler ’s full - size of it elevator car were to be completely redesign for 1962 in a top - to - bottom embodied overhaul make love as the " S - series " programme . Only the Dodge and Plymouth member of this family unit made it to showroom , and even they were drastically changed from original plan .
The S - series begin taking shape in previous 1958 under Chrysler pattern vice - President of the United States Virgil Exner . Its inspiration was his XNR show car , then in provision , with similar long - hood / short - deck proportions and spectacular blade - type fenderlines , element slated for yield premiere on the 1960 Valiant .
After initial work with3/8 - scale of measurement models , a full - size " theme " clay was fill in by May 1959 and wheeled under the styling dome . Aconvertiblemocked up as a DeSoto , it represented a striking fresh charge for Exner : smaller , dramatically altered in profile , completely finless , and with a truncated rear deck in complete contrast to present-day long - tailed Ford and GM cars .
Fins had made Chrysler the manufacture ’s styling pacemaker in 1955 - 57 , but Exner knew they were already passé . With the S - series , he reach for the next " Forward Look " – literally – by shifting the focus from rearward to front .
Other feature article of that May mockup admit vee’d bumper , a slight beltline kickup just behind the door , and a center vestigial fin ( which survived only on the 1962 Plymouth ) . Also featured were arc side glass ( pioneered by Chrysler on the 1957 Imperial ) , a steeply angled windshield , and long bladed fender a la the XNR that stopped abruptly just before the B complex - pillar . Aft quarter wear a high - set concave rhomboid muscle that tapered smoothly back to match rear - deck contour .
entropy about the S - serial publication versions specific to DeSoto and Chrysler can be found by proceed to the next page .
For more on concept cars and the production models they forecast, check out:
DeSoto and Chrysler S-Series concept cars
Somehow , Chrysler management in the previous 1950s eagerly approved dramatic styling mockups as part of the work on the DeSoto and Chrysler S - Series conception car . The mockups previewed the approaching S - serial , and cast designers a curve because they were take over more conventional clays from production studios ( one amazingly Mercury - like ) . That left the single division designers to evolve their 1962 production manikin from an unexpected source .
Since Chrysler and DeSoto would share bodyshells and many KO’d control panel as usual , DeSoto studio chief Don Kopka figure out closely with his Chrysler similitude , Fred Reynolds on the would - be 1962s .
For both model , the theme auto ’s rearward - quarter treatment was rapidly modified to harmonize better with the tapered deck , producing what junior stylists dub " the chicken wing . " Front bumpers acquired dropped centerfield section because Chrysler designing gaffer Virgil Exner wanted something other than true bars .
DeSoto designers in the end revivify their make ’s triple - taillight motive of 1956 - 1959 , though in horizontal rather of vertical format . The borning Chrysler was given large , single wraparound units .
Both get carried four headlights in single chrome bezels , arranged in angle upright pairs , as on the production 1961s . grille were topped by a striking bright horizontal molding flare up and out to feed back over the tough and on into the beltline trimming , which furthered the front - closing accent .
DeSoto stylists played with many grille themes , but finally take root for an insignificant mix of thick and tenuous horizontal bar , accented by a heavy centre emblem . Chrysler stayed with its inverted os trapezoideum , as for 1960 - 1961 , with dissimilar inserts to identify the various series ; the propose letter - series 300 keep the " crossbar " motif used since 1957 .
The S - series Imperial was just as dissimilar from its predecessors , if less radical than the DeSoto and Chrysler . Its " face , " for case , was like the output 1961 pattern , with a fine - texture grill set beneath a wide chromed cope displaying IMPERIAL in big block letter of the alphabet . flank this were twinned sets of freestanding headlamps in individual chrome pods suspended from beetle fender , a " Classic " throwback that still appealed to Exner .
Though it sounds as ghastly as the 1961 treatment , this tout ensemble actually had a crisp , tight look . Blade front pilot mimicked those of lesser S - series models , but rear fender wore a single forgetful sword finish in pop fender tip .
On each of those was a " gun-sight " taillamp , an purple signature since 1955 . Of all the senior S - series proposals , Imperial was arguably the handsome , DeSoto the least attractive .
To acquire about the Dodge and Plymouth version of the S - serial publication , keep reading on the next page .
Dodge and Plymouth S-series Concept Cars
Early Dodge and Plymouth S - series conception motorcar looked something like the " downsized " production models that appear for 1962 , but they were better proportion because they had longer wheelbase than the automobile that made it to the showrooms .
The most intriguing of this bunch was a Plymouth " Super Sport " coupe , whose roofline combined elements of some succeeding GM cars . A undivided side window , for the doorway ( 1970 - 91 Chevy Camaro / Pontiac Firebird ) , was cut up into the roof ( as on the 1963 Corvette Stingray coupe ) , and broad , reverse - angle bacillus - pillar lead to an enormous wraparound rearward window that was V - shaped in plan view ( forecasting the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado ) .
Though this handling was used in watered - down bod on the 1964 - 1966 Barracuda , the unsuccessful Super Sport wore it much better . Other S - series Plymouth ideas picture in surviving " platter " photo were a more established semi - fastback hardtop coupe and a back panel remarkably like that of the 1960 Pontiac .
last S - serial styling model were quick by February 1960 , but the program was soon overshadowed by a scandal that shook Chrysler to its core . On April 28th , William C. Newberg , a 27 - yr caller old hand , was elected prexy ; just two months subsequently , on June 30th , he was fired by the board of directors for alleged conflict of interest : financial keeping in several Chrysler suppliers . Other official were also dismissed , each " resignation " making heavy headlines .
Despite his brief presidency , Newberg was capable to alter S - serial plans substantially . Based on a rumor that Chevrolet would downscale its full - size of it Aepyceros melampus for 1962 – which proved false – he summarily grade the approved Dodge / Plymouth wheelbase cut from 118 to 116 inches .
Confusion reigned as staff member work out foresighted hours stimulate the original styling fit . In the physical process , Chrysler exec Virgil Exner ’s designs lost their curved side glass and several other chemical element .
Though more conventional , the final 1962 Plymouths and Dodges were still pretty remaining – rather like overgrown Valiants . They come across a pitiful reception – so poor , in fact , that Virgil Exner was fired , too ( replaced by Elwood Engel , lured over from Ford ) .
Meanwhile , L.L. " Tex " Colbert , who had engineered Chrysler ’s remarkable mid-1950s comeback , briefly return as president after the Newberg debacle . With one eye on dismal 1958 - 1960 gross sales , he review Newberg ’s plans for 1962 and had second thoughts .
Though it was too late to abort the shrunken Plymouth and Dodge , he could cancel the chunky S - serial models design for DeSoto and Chrysler and Bob Hope for the good with heavily facelifted ( really " definned " ) 1960 - 1961 models . Which is just what he did . At the same clip , Colbert consigned DeSoto to story , concluding that a central factor in its late poor sales was cost challenger from the lesser Chryslers and the grander contrivance .
Sans fins , Chrysler and Imperial both sold somewhat better for 1962 . help oneself Chrysler ’s cause that year was a new " 300 " line to exchange the mid - compass Windsor , provide the trend , if not the performance , of the famed letter - series cars at much small monetary value .
There was one other good example that got turn a loss in the DeSoto pipeline , which you’re able to larn about by preserve to the next pageboy .
The Last DeSoto
stringently speaking , the S - series planned for 1962 was not the last DeSoto . Chrysler management in brief considered a 1962 DeSoto cloned from the definned Chrysler Newport . Engineering released an decoration drawing of it , the only difference between it and the Newport involving grille emblems .
It ’s dubious that Chrysler gravely destine to sell this DeSoto . Indeed , the drawing may have been done only so that functionary could candidly say the press , which had been necessitate pointed question about DeSoto ’s time to come since 1959 , that Chrysler really was working on young model .
On that grievance , one cable car cartridge describe in other 1960 that , in luminousness of falling sales , DeSoto would tender only a compact for 1962 . Presumably , this would have been a Valiant - establish car instead of an all - new design , though the write up ( actually a flake of gossip ) did n’t notice on that . Perhaps they got their rumour mix up with insider tip on Dodge ’s Valiant - clone 1961 Lancer .
As for the stillborn S - series DeSoto , Fred Reynolds remembered scrutinise the discharge metal epitome six month after the program was drink down . He recalled it looking grotesque , awkward , already dated .
All told , he was glad the fellowship decided not to build it , which means he could n’t have much liked the aborted Chrysler or Imperial either . pay the poor showing of the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge , it ’s belike just as well the S - series was axed .
The upshot to this story is that DeSoto died in name only . Less than a year after its sepulture , the make was in effect resurrected at Dodge in the full - size Custom 880 . Hastily fielded to offset underwhelming sales of those downsize 1962 " standards , " it arrived with a pair of hardtops , like the 1961 DeSoto line , but also a hardtop waggon , four - room access sedan chair , even a sofa bed .
All merge a 1961 great - Dodge front with a 1962 Newport bottom , which mean the reborn large Dodge was basically the same railroad car as the 1960 - 1961 DeSoto , Chrysler and , yes , full - size Dodge . The two Custom 880 hardtops even be about the same as the last DeSotos , and the entire melodic phrase sold well , doubtless due to its conventional , euphemistic styling .
The Custom 880 continued gain good money for Dodge right on through 1966 . Given that , one suspect that DeSoto ’s speedy declination , like Edsel ’s , stemmed less from a changed marketplace than a " loser " persona and increase rivalry from sis division .
